Crafting, traveling and everything in between.

I once read an article where the author admonished bloggers for blogging faux pas. Too many photos. Lack of photos. Too much text. Not enough bullets. The author’s list was pretty extensive. Well, readers, I’ve broken one of that author’s rules and I’m about to break another — 1) posting infrequently or on an unpredictable schedule and 2) apologizing for infrequent posting.

So, dear readers, I apologize. I’ve been gone for a very long time. Eight months, if not more. There was only one other time when I fell silent — from February 2012 until a few posts in March 2013 about a trip to Raleigh, N.C.

Both then and now have very similar themes — I lost a dear loved one and needed a break from activities and responsibilities that did not need my energy or attention. I guess you can call it a time of reflection and evaluation. I needed to focus on living without the worry of additional responsibilities. Blogging was certainly not a necessity. It’s a hobby. It doesn’t pay the bills. It doesn’t help with my education or research. So it took a back seat. I set it aside.

The first extended blog hiatus occurred soon after my grandfather passed away. I grieved for several months and it took a long time before I felt like writing again. Looking back over the blog, I realized how much I enjoyed it and turned back to snapping photos and writing. I enjoy creating and traveling and sharing those experiences with you.

This time, our sweet puppy, Sydney, passed away last May. She was nearly 15 and had been struggling with illness for the past year. Chris and I made the difficult decision of letting her go. She had continued to lose weight at a rapid pace, and she had been on lots of antibiotics for the last month of her life.

Imaging showed she was losing bone mass in a back leg; the same one that had been swollen and painful for months. We never discovered the cause of the infection or the reason for her weight or bone loss. It was time and we didn’t want to expose her to more poking and prodding than she’d already experienced for the past several months.

So, I took a break for blogging again. Only, this time, I debated whether or not to even continue the blog. I would still leave the site up, but I didn’t, and still don’t know, if I would continue writing. Sydney has been a central part of Chris and my life, as you can certainly see from the many trips posted under the Small Travels and Musings section where she is spotlighted in many photos. It will seem odd to travel without our furry “dog”her.

I’ll continue to think about this and may continue to post from once in awhile. Bear with me, dear readers, as I decide what I’m going to do.

Though Sydney has had a sore knee for the past several weeks, we managed to go on our annual Easter wildflower walk last week. Since she’s still having trouble walking, we choose a short, easy trail — Rock Run Loop — at Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest. The 0.5-mile trail is located in Bernheim’s forest and follows along a small creek.

We didn’t see many flowers, but we did see a trout lily, which we didn’t see that often in Virginia. Below are the flowers:

Cutleaf toothwort

Rue anemone

Trout lily

This weekend we wanted to see if we could find any wildflowers at Iroquois Park. We were pleasantly surprised. Below is some of what we found, including Jack-in-the-pulpit, which we’ve never seen before.

Bloodroot

Mayapples

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Spring beauties

Young jewelweed (Touch-me-nots)

We miss seeing the Dutchman’s breeches, wild columbine and showy orchis we could easily find in Virginia, but we’re looking forward to seeing what other new flowers we can discover in our new community.

A professor recently told me about walking a section of the Ohio River Greenway that runs alongside Loop Island Wetlandsin New Albany, Ind. Chris, Sidney and I went to check it out over the weekend.

As described by my professor, the parking area is a little scary. It’s located at an old tannery. Several abandoned buildings and trailers sit at the entrance. My professor told me when he visited, he moved his car because it seemed like a place riffraff would most likely hang out.

I understand what he means. All of the buildings had broken or boarded-up windows. Graffiti covered the walls of the buildings and along the trail. Based on the juvenile content, I’m sure the “artists” were teens.

We would not have been sure of our location if it weren’t for cars full of people parking and heading for the trailhead. Other clues we were in the correct place was a project development sign at the gravel lot’s entrance and parking signs posted on one of the dilapidated buildings.

We attempted to walk some dirt paths through the woods next to the wetlands, but our walk was cut short due to a minor breach in what appeared to be a man-made pond. If there was a path, it was washed out by a newly created rill.

Instead, we headed back to the paved greenway. It wound north of the wetlands and climbed a levee. Just west of the wetlands, we found an apartment community sitting below the levee. A couple played fetch with their German shepherd and other medium-sized dog. On the greenway, we walked past several teenagers, families, couples with dogs and a couple of joggers.

At the end of the greenway, we found a paved parking lot. According to the greenway’s map, that section is 0.8 miles. Eventually this section will connect to the portion we walked on when we visited the Falls of the Ohio.

Though not a relaxing walk, Loop Island Wetlands was an interesting visit.